Games for Should

Here are some excellent games to practice the word "should". 

"Should" is used to give advice. These games allow students a chance to give and receive advice.


The Tourist and The Tour Guide


This is a role-play that works well when it is presented to the class.

In this activity, students work in pairs to create a dialogue. One student is a tourist in the other student's city. The tourist must ask questions, and the tour guide must give advice.

For example:


A: You should visit the Eiffel Tower.
B: Really? Should I go up the Tower?
A: Oh yes. You should definitely go up. It costs about $15, but it is worth it.
B: And what about The Louvre?
A: You should definitely go to the Louvre. In fact, you should try and go on a Sunday because it is cheaper. And when you are there, you should try and see the Mona Lisa.

Now, this dialogue can be used in a number of ways.

Presentation
The students can work together and practice the dialogue to present it to the class. This has a few advantages. First, they will focus on accuracy
They will certainly be writing things down, and probably want to read from a script.

Fluid Pairs
For a more informal take on this activity, you can simply have the students moving around the class talking to different people about their cities.



Advice Contest
In this activity the students are placed in pairs or groups of 3. The object of the game is to be the team who gives the best advice.

The teacher starts by saying a problem. Each team brainstorms ideas for advice. Then each group says its advice.

For example,

Teacher: I lost my keys.

Group A: You should call the police.
Group B: You should ask your friends.
Group C: You should put a classified ad in the newspaper.
Group D: You should look for them in your house.

Then the teacher awards one point for the best suggestion.

The teacher continues the game by giving new problems.

I like this game because it allows the students to brainstorm multiple idea and choose the best. It is wonderful to see the partners listing 4-6 suggestions to each other, and using the proper grammar structure the whole time.


Things

Things is a board game marketed to adults. It is designed as a party game. You can see the game here:

The Game of Things

In this game, the teacher says a problem, and the students write a suggestion on a piece of paper.

Example: You should exercise in the morning.
You should use your credit car less often.

The teacher collects the pieces of paper from the students and mixes them up. He/she then reads the suggestions in random order. Read it a second time so the students can remember them.

Then, each student takes a turn guessing who wrote each suggestion.

For example:

"I think Ricardo wrote, you should exercise in the morning."

If the student is correct, 3 things happen:

The student gets a point
The student continues guessing
The person whose suggestions was guessed is eliminated.

If the student does not guess correctly, the next student takes a turn. Remember: when a student guesses incorrectly, he or she is not eliminated from the game. You can only be eliminated when your suggestion is guessed.

After half of the suggestions have been guessed, the teacher reads the remaining papers again.

The person who is eliminated first takes the first turn in the next round.

This game is a fun way to get your students to produce written sentences with the targeted language, which in this case is "should".